The French war department had completed the Thiers wall – including fortifications, a dry moat, a Rue Militaire and a large berm – around 1840.

In 1859, the military engineering service gave conditional control to the Paris city council.

The Thiers wall, with its accompanying berm and moat, led to a profound disruption and complication of the synergistic relationship between Paris and its suburbs.

In 1864, the boulevard was named after Polish-born Józef Poniatowski (1763–1813), 1st Duke of Dalmatia and Marshal of France.

The Boulevards of the Marshals concept was almost fully realized by 1932, though the final three sections, closing the ring, would not be completed until 2005.